Have booked myself a quiet little holiday in P-town and Boston. Will be in Provincetown Feb 19-20-21 and Boston Feb 22-23, flying back to Ottawa on the 24th. Any suggestions would be gladly entertained!_________________Vivant Linguae Mortuae!!

David, Hammersleys Bistro is wonderful, too. Same neighborhood as Aquitaine.

My best friend lives in Marblehead, which is a 40 minute bus ride from downtown Boston. It's a lovely coastal town with more original colonial homes (still inhabited) than any other city/town in the US. If you've got a chance, you might like to take a detour to the North Shore.

Thanks georgia! I hadn't run across the Hammersley--will look into it. This is my first trip to Boston and am quite looking forward to it. i enjoy history and sadly my grasp of American history is even worse than of my own--and Boston seems a decent place to start! Many of my fellow Ottawans enjoy Boston and I intend to go back for a bit longer later on in the year with some friends from Calgary---so any tips I garner from this thread that don't get followed up this trip will be worthy fodder for another foray! Oh and my friends from Calgary are foodies, needless to say _________________Vivant Linguae Mortuae!!

David, I misspelled the bistro name. It's Hamersleys (one n). They've got a fine website with menus, etc., so you can get a better sense if it's for you. (And their cookbook is great. So many times, a "restaurant" cookbook doesn't translate very well for the home cook, but this one works.)

If you're going to Boston in February, you'll need a steady supply of hot drinks (although you're a hardy Canadian, unlike me, a Chicagoan ruined by too many mild British winters ) - so I suggest Tealuxe. They have two branches, the original one in Harvard Square and a newer one in Newbury Street, and offer a variety of teas rivalled only by Mariage Freres.

Chinatown has some venerable dim sum places - I can't for the life of me remember the one I went to (it either had Pearl in the name, or was in Pearl Street... sorry this isn't very helpful) but I thoroughly enjoyed it. The New England Aquarium is nearby and wonderful (not that there's any connection between the two, of course. At least I hope not...)

Erin is definitely right about the Harvard museums, but the MFA and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum aren't bad either. And at the opposite extreme, apparently there's a Museum of Bad Art (I've never been, but it sounds like a laugh riot!) And of course Cambridge has amazing bookshops, but perhaps that would be too much of a busman's holiday for you?

Mmmmmm, Museum of Bad Art! Love the concept! Thanks Rachel I appreciate the input (and i'm not kidding---i love the idea of a museum devoted to bad art!!!)

Well I've checked the reviews and menus for both Aquitaine and Hamersleys and since I'm there for 2 dinners i think I'm pretty well fixed! And dim sum in China town (will try to narrow down that Pearl clue lol)_________________Vivant Linguae Mortuae!!

Have just checked for you - the dim sum place is called China Pearl (the address is 9 Tyler Street). And the Museum of Bad Art has a website with all the details (www.museumofbadart.org) - which is a good laugh even if you never make it to the museum itself!

Joined: 18 Oct 2004Posts: 1654Location: Within view of Elliot Bay, The Olympics and every ship in the Sound

Posted: Thu Jan 24, 2008 6:19 pm Post subject:

Yay Aquitaine! If you want to pay homage to Julia Child they have a lovely sole meuniere. We tried several of the appetizers and the plat du fromage is lovely and has a wonderful little slice of fig cake. The desserts are decadently coma inducing and after trying four of them still can't decide which is best. This restaurant just makes me smile. Enjoy!

We are so checking out the Museum of Bad Art next time we're in town.

Oh, also the Boston Public Library usually has a great exhibit going on. It's also just a beautiful place to visit._________________"It's watery....and yet there's a smack of ham."

Which should be helpful to you. I'm also more than happy to make recommendations. The restaurants listed so far are all good. They are a bit older, but still yummy. There are a TON of new places as well. As mentioned in a previous post, Back Bay is a very popular area... but even better for food is the South End, which is just one "neighborhood" over. In fact, Acquitaine and Hamersley's are both in the S. End.

Check out my blog. I have links to a bunch of resaurants and also can give you more names if you like.

Tammy! Thank you and WOW you've done a great job on your site! This is just a quick little introductory trip to Boston. I'm thinking if I like it Boston could become my "go to" city, you know, a place you escape to now and again just to break the daily routine. It is close enough to Ottawa to be affordable and far enough to be different, big enough to have an interesting mix of things to do but small enough to get around. So while I may not even get a pinch of Boston this time I'm looking forward to further adventures in the future._________________Vivant Linguae Mortuae!!